About
The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby is one of Britain's most emotionally powerful aviation museums, established as a living memorial to the men of Bomber Command who flew from this Lincolnshire airfield during the Second World War. The centre is the creation of brothers Fred and Harold Panton, who founded it in memory of their elder brother Christopher Panton, a flight engineer with No.
433 Squadron RCAF who was killed on operations in 1944 at the age of 21.
The undisputed centrepiece of the museum is Lancaster bomber NX611, named 'Just Jane', one of only two surviving airworthy-standard Lancasters in the United Kingdom and the last to ground-run in England. Visitors can board and explore Just Jane's cramped and evocative interior, feeling the exact conditions in which seven-man crews flew on their gruelling missions over occupied Europe.
On selected days, Just Jane undergoes ground-running taxi experiences that bring her four Merlin engines to roaring, thundering life — an experience that draws aviation enthusiasts from across the world.
The museum is set within the partially preserved site of RAF East Kirkby, operational between 1943 and 1945 with No.
57 Squadron and No. 630 Squadron RAF, and the original Control Tower has been restored as the emotional heart of the interpretive experience, evoking the tension and routine of a working wartime bomber station with period equipment, charts, and the voices of those who served here.
Lincolnshire, with its flat terrain ideal for airfield construction, hosted over fifty wartime RAF stations and was aptly nicknamed 'Bomber County', and East Kirkby remains among the most atmospheric and important of these historic sites.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Book Lancaster taxi experience day tickets as far in advance as possible — they sell out months ahead and represent a uniquely unmissable experience if you are an aviation enthusiast.
- Arrive at opening time if possible, especially for Just Jane: the queue to board the Lancaster can be long later in the day and the early morning light makes the aircraft particularly photogenic.
- Bring warm layers even in summer — the Lincolnshire airfield site is exposed and the Lancaster's interior is cold metal, particularly when exploring the rear fuselage and tail position.
- The museum is an hour minimum from any major rail hub; the site is car-essential unless you are on an organised group visit.
- The NAAFI café is excellent for a warming lunch mid-visit; the airfield setting and period styling make it a memorable stop in itself.
- Read about No.57 and No.630 Squadrons before your visit — arriving with some knowledge of the operational history makes the memorial displays much more meaningful.
- Photography is encouraged throughout the site; the Control Tower interior and the Lancaster's gun turrets are particularly photogenic subjects.
Highlights
Lancaster Bomber 'Just Jane' (NX611)
Lancaster NX611 'Just Jane' is the undisputed star of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre and one of Britain's greatest aviation treasures. She is one of only two Lancasters in the UK maintained to ground-running standard with all four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines operational, and the only Lancaster in England that regularly taxis under her own power.
Visitors can board and explore the aircraft's interior, crawling through the fuselage to experience at first hand the cramped, cold, and dangerous conditions in which Bomber Command crews flew their operations.
The sense of physical proximity to this genuine wartime aircraft, combined with the knowledge of what such aircraft did and what it cost in human lives, makes Just Jane one of the most emotionally resonant heritage objects in Britain.
Lancaster Ground-Running Taxi Experience
On selected days throughout the season, Just Jane's four Merlin engines are fired up and the Lancaster taxis along the perimeter track at East Kirkby, recreating the sight and sound of wartime bomber operations with extraordinary fidelity. The combined roar of four Merlins at full power is an overwhelming sensory experience, and the sight of the Lancaster moving under her own power against the flat Lincolnshire sky is deeply moving for visitors with any connection to the wartime generation.
Taxi experience days are the museum's most popular events and sell out many months in advance.
A limited number of paying passengers can ride in the aircraft during taxi runs, which represents a unique opportunity unavailable elsewhere in England.
Restored Wartime Control Tower
The Control Tower at RAF East Kirkby has been meticulously restored to its wartime appearance and stands as the interpretive heart of the museum's commemoration of the station's operational history. The tower's rooms are equipped with period maps, plotting tables, telephones, and flying equipment precisely as they would have appeared when controlling the nightly sorties of No.
57 and No.
630 Squadrons' Lancasters. The atmosphere is powerfully evocative; voices and sounds from the wartime period recreate the tension of a typical operational night when over thirty aircraft might be dispatched into the darkness towards targets deep in Germany, with no certainty of their return. The tower interpretation makes the abstract statistics of Bomber Command's losses deeply human and personal.
Memorial to the Panton Brothers
The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre was founded in 1988 by brothers Fred and Harold Panton as a memorial to their older brother Christopher, a flight engineer with No. 433 Squadron RCAF who was killed on 30 March 1944 at the age of 21 when his Lancaster was shot down during a raid on Nuremberg — the most costly single night of Bomber Command's war, in which 96 Lancasters and Halifaxes were lost.
The personal and family dimension of the museum gives it an emotional depth that no institutional collection can replicate, and the story of the Panton brothers' decades of dedication to preserving Just Jane and creating this memorial is itself an extraordinary tale of loyalty, love, and perseverance.
The memorial tablets and personal displays in the museum are among the most moving elements of the visit.
Collections
The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre holds one of the most significant collections of Bomber Command material in the United Kingdom, centred on Lancaster NX611 'Just Jane' and complemented by a substantial holding of artefacts, documents, photographs, and personal effects relating to the Second World War air campaign and specifically to the operations of No.
57 and No. 630 Squadrons RAF from East Kirkby between 1943 and 1945.
The Lancaster herself is the most important object in the collection, maintained in ground-running condition as a memorial to the 55,573 men of Bomber Command who did not survive the war. Supporting the aircraft are collections of flying clothing, navigation equipment, bomb-aiming instruments, operational maps and charts, crew photographs, log books, personal letters and diaries, and squadron records.
The restored Control Tower contains period furnishings, communications equipment, and operational documentation recreating the working environment of a wartime bomber station.
The museum also holds a significant photographic archive documenting East Kirkby, its squadrons, and the wider Lincolnshire aviation landscape during the Second World War.
Just Jane: Lancaster NX611
The centre's principal exhibit — a Lancaster bomber maintained in ground-running condition, open for boarding and interior exploration
The Control Tower
Restored wartime control tower with period equipment and atmospheric interpretation of a typical operational night at RAF East Kirkby
Bomber County: Lincolnshire's Air War
The history of Lincolnshire's role as the heart of Bomber Command, with squadron histories, crew stories, and the human geography of the wartime county
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.